1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an article alignment device for use in article dispensing apparatus such as a combinatorial weighing apparatus in which batches of articles are weighed by a plurality of weighing units respectively, and a combination of weighing units is selected that provides a total weight equal to or most closely approximating a target weight within a predetermined tolerance and then the articles are discharged from the selected weighing units. The invention is particularly suited for use with apparatus for dispensing foodstuffs comprising elongate articles such as bread sticks and the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, bread sticks have been manually loaded into receptacles for storage and subsequent sale although more recently a system has been devised in which such sticks are supplied vertically into a hopper which is then rotated through 90.degree. following which the group of bread sticks is dropped into a receptacle. The problem with this latter arrangement is that the sticks have a relatively short length compared with the width of a hopper, with the result that some can be misaligned on entry into the hopper and result in a jumble of sticks which will not load neatly into a receptacle.